Dear Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European Union,
We contact you regarding the upcoming discussion in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on the Report on the evaluation of the Unfair Trading Practices (UTP) Directive. The new evaluation report by the European Commission on the UTP Directive makes one point unmistakably clear: current legislation still fails to provide sufficient protection for farmers. There is a need for action, in particular to address the situation whereby farmers are forced to systematically sell their products below production costs. The EU must act on the evaluation’s findings and the urgency of the farmers’ economic situation. The revised UTP directive must include a ban of selling below production costs in its blacklist.
The Commission’s analysis shows that while the UTP Directive provides a starting point, it does not sufficiently protect farmers from unfair practices. The structural imbalance of power between producers on the one hand and large retail or processing companies on the other remains unchanged. Farmers continue to suffer from a structurally weak position in the agri-food chain, lack fair remuneration, and face deteriorating living and working conditions. They are being pushed to the breaking point by the absence of a sufficient legal framework for protection under the UTP, their continued and increased exposure to global markets through free trade agreements, which subject them to lower and more volatile prices, and the lack of effective price support measures within the CAP. The situation is so serious that on December 16, 2025, the Italian Competition and Market Authority launched an investigation (Measure No. 31773) into the role of large-scale retail chains in the agri-food supply chain.
The dramatic price and market crisis in the European milk sector is a critical example of this situation. For several months, the price of milk has been falling continuously. In Germany, prices decreased from 51 cents/litre to 37 cents/litre; in Ireland from 54 cents/litre to 36 cents/litre; and in Belgium from 53 cents/litre to 35 cents/litre. Thousands of milk producers are plunged into existential difficulties, forced to work at a loss and sell their products below production costs. This hardship persists despite overall food retail prices remaining high, pointing to a severe imbalance in how value is distributed along the food chain. In Italy, for example, food inflation rose by 24.9% between October 2021 and 2025, yet farmers are keeping just 7 euros out of every 100 spent by consumers on fresh agricultural products, while the commerce and transport sectors capture nearly three times that amount.
The planned revision of the UTP directive is an essential and timely step. Only a clear and binding legal framework without exceptions, based on full costs, including a fair income for farmers and all agricultural workers, can prevent producers from being systematically forced to sell below value, jeopardising the economic viability of the entire sector and its generational renewal. ECVC calls on EU policymakers to seize this moment and ban, without exception, the purchase of agricultural products at prices below the cost of production under the UTP directive.
Sincerely,
European Coordination Via Campesina